ducatiboy Posted May 16, 2006 Report Share Posted May 16, 2006 I will try to post a comprehensive FAQ list here and keep it updated if need be Frequently Asked Questions…. and Answers: 1. How do I order this? 2. When will it ship? 3. When will I get it? 4. How do I install this? Is it easy? 5. What do I do with my parking brake, do I ground it? 6. But other people have it grounded, are you sure I shouldn’t ground it all the time? 7. Does it actually flash my lights? I have HID headlights, isn’t that bad for them? 8. I have automatic headlights, will this work with my car? 9. I drive a 2004 XYZ (or whatever) will this work with my car? 10. I hooked it up and it doesn’t work for me, what is wrong with it? 1. How do I order this? I sell it on my web site, I take credit cards and paypal http://www.sminntech.com 2. When will it ship? I have them in stock and usually ship within a day or so. 3. When will I get it? I ship USPS Priority which is listed as 2-3 days to anywhere in the US. If you are in a really big hurry, I can ship Fed Ex overnight, but it will cost you extra. I believe the going rate seems to be $25. Or if you have a fed ex account number I can take that as well. 4. How do I install this? Is it easy? Well, easy is a relative term, but I believe if you can install the Avic-Z1 then you should be able to hook up this circuit. I made it as fool proof as possible. Instructions are posted on the forum but here they are again: The installation instructions are in the attached picture below (again, you need to be a registered member to see the pictures): 1. Connect the head unit exactly as described in your installation manual. 2. Cut the line going from the car to the head unit labeled as the "illumination" wire. 3. Connect the white line from the head light flasher to the illumination line which is coming from the car. 4. Connect the orange wire to the illumination line which is going to the head unit. 5. Connect the red wire to the 12 Volt switched line (the red wire on the head unit’s wiring harness) 6. Connect the black wire to ground (the black wire on the head unit’s wiring harness). 7. Don't use the parking brake or disconnect that wire and leave it floating. Tape it up so it doesn't short anything. Instructions are also posted on my web site: http://www.sminntech.com/z1fcinstall.html 5. What do I do with my parking brake, do I ground it? Well, if you are reading this, then I would assume you are installing one of my circuits (or a TR7 or you are flashing your lights manually every time you turn the car on). If so then don’t connect it, it’s not needed. Leave it disconnected and tape it up. If you aren't going to install a circuit or you are not going to manually flash your lights (why are you reading this?) then yes, you will want some way to ground that line when you are stopped or you will be locked out of a bunch of stuff. 6. But other people have it grounded, are you sure I shouldn’t ground it all the time? No, there is a complicated way the head unit interacts with the parking brake wire. It’s best to leave it disconnected, but if you must know what’s going on, here it is…. If you install the head unit, and you have the parking brake on (grounded) then flashing your headlights won't work. But if you ground it all the time (or leave the parking brake on slightly, enough to ground the wire but not enough to stop the car) and you try to watch a DVD once you start moving, the head unit will detect that and figure you have your parking brake wire installed incorrectly, since it's impossible to be moving with the parking brake on They haven't ever been in any car I have ever owned then, you can absolutely drive around with the parking brake on, which doesn't say a lot for me, but it says even less for the parking brake, I changed the name of mine to the "make the car smell funny lever"... I love Mitch Headberg... but I digress Since it's impossible to move with the parking brake on, it figures that you have it connected improperly. And then it will disregard what that wire is connected to. Then, once you try to do something you shouldn’t and it yells at you for hooking it up wrong, then will the headlight flashing work. So leaving the parking brake wire disconnected is not an absolute pre-requisite for headlight flashing to work. You can ground it permanently, but you will have to try to do something you shouldn’t while in motion and have the car yell at you before flashing your lights will work. That is why I recommend leaving it disconnected. 7. Does it actually flash my lights? I have HID headlights, isn’t that bad for them? No it doesn’t flash your lights, it just tells the head unit that you did. Yes, it’s bad to flash your HID’s. I would recommend against flashing them too much. 8. I have automatic headlights, will this work with my car? Yes, I designed this to work for cars that have automatic head lights or just incase you turn your lights on before or right after you start your car. My circuit doesn’t care. 9. I drive a 2004 XYZ (or whatever) will this work with my car? Wow, you have a 2004 XYZ? I love those! What kind of mileage do you get? But seriously, I haven’t tested this in every possible car. I would assume that if you have any modern 12V positive electrical system (every car made for the last 30 years available in North America) then it should work for you. If your car’s electrical system is compatible with a Pioneer Avic-Z1, then it should be compatible with my circuit. My guess is that it would work with 100% of the cars out there. But there is a slight possibility that you might have something incompatible or your car might function differently than I have anticipated. Worse case, the head unit will still get a signal telling it that you flashed your lights, but when you turn on your head lights, the radio won’t dim. If you have your head unit installed correctly without my circuit, and the dimming feature works, then so will my circuit. 10. I hooked it up and it doesn’t work for me, what is wrong with it? Most likely it’s your installation. I test all of these before they are shipped…. Most likely it’s your install, please double or triple check it. But, I have gotten a couple people so far who had problems and I believe they connected it to 12V all the time, not 12V switched or something. So far, all the reports are that these all worked when connected correctly. This thing needs to be connected to the (red) 12V switched line in your wiring harness for your radio. You can take ground from there too. If you do that and just hook the orange wire to the orange ILL wire from the head unit, it will “flash your lights†for you. If you want to be able to turn on your lights and get the head unit to dim (and change the drive’s view of the nav system to a night sky) then connect the white wire on my circuit to the wire you would have hooked to the orange ILL wire on the head unit. This should work. Or if you can find a wire that goes to +12V when you turn on your lights, that will work too, I’m easy. There is a VERY slight possibility that the unit could have gone bad in shipping or whatever. If so email me at the address above and we will work it out. I also have a tech support section on my web site: http://www.sminntech.com/tech.html Now there is a lot of information floating around and I would ask JasonH to make this a sticky and for other members not to reply to this post, the more replies the more cluttered this post will get and I want to keep this nice and clean for people to read. If it’s possible to lock this post but still let me edit it, cool, if not, please don’t ask me questions in this post, create a new post so we can keep this one nice and clean. Thanks, and DRIVE SAFE! Link to post Share on other sites
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